US dollar
Financial market infrastructure services: Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s responsive deployment of new liquidity capabilities helped emerging-market central banks cope with pandemic market disruption
Lifetime achievement: Charles Goodhart
The LSE and BoE veteran economist has his own ‘law’, and played a key role in the establishment of monetary policy in the UK, Hong Kong’s peg and the ‘New Zealand model’, which influenced a generation of central bankers
IMF delays SDR valuation review
Delay reflects priority placed on Covid-19 response and possible clash with other workstream
Governor of the year: Alejandro Díaz de León
Díaz de León has upheld the authority, integrity and independence of the Bank of Mexico against significant external and internal pressures
Riksbank renews Covid-19 lending facilities
Riksbank extends $60 billion facility and will penalise banks that do not lend to non-financial firms
BoE to consult on Sonia clearing mandate
Long-dated Sonia swaps set to lose clearing exemption as liquidity shifts from Libor
Brazil ramps up FX interventions to defend real
Governor Campos Neto says fall “is not justified by fundamentals”
Central Bank of Argentina calls for investigation of IMF agreement
Fund granted South American economy over $57 billion in 2018, its largest-ever package
Stablecoin issuer agrees to settle lawsuit over ‘deceptive’ trading practices
New York attorney general accuses Tether of lying about the backing of its crypto asset with US dollars
ECB profit falls by 30% in 2020
Decrease is mainly due to lower Treasury yields reducing income on dollar portfolio
Book notes: The political economy of the special relationship, by Jeremy Green
Unsatisfactory story about the decline and resurgence of the UK’s importance in the global financial system
Bank of Mexico moves to counter controversial cash law
Financial inclusion proposal follows draft legislation to make central bank buy up spare US dollar cash
Ulrich Bindseil on the launch of the digital euro
The ECB’s director-general for market infrastructure and payments speaks about the functionality, tiering approaches, privacy policies, ledger technology and ecosystem impact of the eurozone's planned CBDC
Riksbank extends swap agreement with Fed
$60 billion line set up in response to Covid-19 extended until end of September 2021
Mexican president seems to make U-turn on central bank law
Bank of Mexico says draft cash law would endanger its independence
Bank of Israel announces major increase in FX interventions
Central bank announces FX spend in advance for first time and pledges 40% increase
Book notes: The currency cold war, by David Birch
Pleasant and interesting read on whether digital money will jeopardise the US dollar’s dominant role in global trade and finance
US Fed facility bought Libor bonds with ‘weak’ fallbacks
Industry figures express surprise over purchases linked to doomed benchmark
Bank of Lithuania paper explores spillovers of US policy uncertainty
Authors find “significant recessionary and deflationary effect” and synchronous response worldwide
Bank of Israel increases FX interventions to tame shekel
Central bank’s foreign reserves reach new record level
Argentinian central bank puts cap on imported luxury goods
BCRA bids to preserve foreign currency as international reserves decline to $39.4 billion
Turkish central bank led global gold sales in November
WGC says higher local demand boosted gold trading between banks and CBRT
SNB still ready to depreciate franc despite US condemnation
Swiss central bank stands firm after US Treasury labelled Switzerland a currency manipulator
Fed’s dollar swap lines and ‘Fima’ facility to run nine more months
FOMC keeps main policy tools on hold, but shifts guidance on asset purchases